Second Chances
by Decipher Philosophy
Summary: Slade's first son Grant is alive and an anonymous person gives him a hint of where he is. The man finds him but also finds someone else that may fix or destroy him.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The DC timeline is seriously messed up so I'm just going to tell you that this takes place 2 years before Slade creates his own Titans in order to save Jericho. I seriously don't know what he did two years before that. So randomly this is what he did during the year before the year jump comics where Slade appears in the Green Arrow comics.

The story will be about Slade but also about Grant and another character.

Warning: Violence and bromance

Second Chances

Chapter 1

Slade wasn't sure if this was a trap or if it was the real thing. His son was alive. _Grant_ was alive. He was told by a client who wanted him to destroy cloning facilities. The client didn't give the exact location of where his son was or who he/she was. Just multiple locations of where the cloning facilities were, so one after the other, he's been destroying them all around the world.

Multiple times he nearly lost his life but if his son was alive, he would do anything to get him back. No matter what the cost was.

Now he was located at New York City which wasn't a wise choice since Nightwing took charge of this place, but he was a minor problem right now. Nobody had discovered that he was responsible for blowing up all those other facilities. Of course he had help.

"So after a hundred-fifty cloning facilities and a possible war that is bound to happen since a majority of them belongs to criminal and government agencies, I'm sure one hundred fifty one must be our lucky number. If not, I'm sure the next one will!" A teenager stated in sarcastic cheerfulness. She had light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and black wavy hair cascaded down her back. Only a five foot with an hourglass figure she wore a simple white t-shirt and jeans.

It was night time and the two were hanging on top of a building watching an Italian pizza shop. Slade said nothing. He was trying to channel his frustrated anger to not massacre everyone carelessly and screaming, "WHERE IS MY SON?!"

The pizza shop's lights went out and the owner left the facility. The girl turned them into shadows, traveled into the pizza shop and disabled its security. They turned back to normal in the kitchen where they pressed a button against the wall activating an elevator to appear out of the floor.

"So once we go down there, how are we going to blow it up without taking half of New York City with it?" The girl asked.

"The facility's ceiling was made to be invincible against an explosion only causing a minor earthquake." Slade responded calmly.

"The mystery person is still paying you right?" She asked to fill in a possible void of awkward silence.

"Anything I need. I ask, they provide. That's the deal." He responded short and quick.

"It was expensive getting to certain places. I've been trying to think of a reason they want these places blown up but nothing comes to mind."

"Camouflage, most of the cloning facilities we abolished housed super humans, aliens and other unknown entities. We're possibly saving the world or helping our client get rid of the competition."

"I got that part but," The elevator revealed itself. Camouflage turned themselves invisible for the elevator camera. The two entered pressing the button for the basement. "But why you? I know you're incredible and all, but there's suckers out there who'd do the job without the gall to kill them out of spite for this fiasco. Plus they could've got someone for _free_. Placing billions of dollars including their lives that will possibly be put in your mercy doesn't make sense."

"It'll all make sense eventually. Whoever is putting me through this will suffer the consequences but for now, it's another day to get my son back."

The elevator door opened, and they were greeted with a room filled with millions of containers housing clones. They searched through the facility ignoring the containers. After going through over a hundred of these things, the curiosity of what's in them were no longer a surprise.

Instead they found the control center filled with people. Slade threw a knockout gas and then shut down the security. Camouflage turned into a shadow checking each room with super fast speed. She turned to normal in front of a door with big yellow symbols, 'G1', displayed on it.

"He's in this one, but he's out cold." She turned her hand into a card swiping it into the lock, and then entering to see that she was right. Grant was in an incubator asleep and naked. "He really is your son." She commented having looked at a certain place.

The two weren't in that kind of relationship. It was because she would shift into her boss's form which had _every_ detail.

She went to a computer on a table having the incubator open. She touched the man's forehead entering his mind. Camouflage closed her eyes and in her mind she was standing in a dark room. Colorful screens appeared before her displaying as different types of memories with different types of emotions. She found the information she was looking for yet with slight curiosity she checked the man's emotional stats and background information on certain people.

After almost two minutes (every 12 seconds being 1 second in reality), she stepped away. "He's not a clone. He's real. It turns out that the day you thought he died, he did die but then there was a reverse reaction over the years. He's been healing himself back to health for the last decade and the scientists were able to stabilize the HIVE's serum to match yours. There is no mind control device inside him. In other words, he's alive and will be worn out but fine tomorrow."

When she looked at the man, she didn't know what he was thinking by the mask he wore. But he walked over to his son looking down at him who still looked like the day before he died. He reached his hand out to him but then pulled it back. Instead he held onto the edges of the incubator grasping it tightly.

Camouflage placed a hand on his back and told him, "He still loves you. He'll be enraged when he wakes up but he does love you. Remember that." She turned to Grant getting him out and then holding him up by an arm on her shoulders and her arm wrapped around his torso. "Oof, he's heavy! Be careful!" She turned them into shadows heading to the elevator.

The girl had them turn invisible when they reached the surface. She carried him into a truck they parked in the alley. She placed him on a cot strapping him onto it so he wouldn't fall off of it. She felt the entire city shake mildly which worried the normal civilians, and then Slade got out unscathed as expected, but what she didn't expect was a child asleep in his arms.

"Slade, why do you have that kid?" She asked feeling stupid for a moment.

"I couldn't leave him." He responded simply.

"You couldn't or you wouldn't? Slade, he could already be a clone under someone's control!" She had some sense back.

"Then we'll just have to figure out won't we?" The man placed the boy on an extra cot they bought for emergencies.

The two got on the front seats. "Sometimes I wish your conscience had a brain." Camouflage had her arms crossed clearly angry. "If he turns out to be a cold blooded killer, I'm not stopping him until he done killing your ass."

Slade chuckled. The first laugh the teenage had heard for months, and then drove them away.

_To be continued..._

A/N: My fourth try at a Deathstroke fanfic. I will master this!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Location: Germany**

"Grant should be waking up at any second. The people at the facility had been training him back to recovery, but he will be experiencing ups and downs. He'll be confused so we'll try our best to let him down gently." Camouflage told Slade while they were standing next to Grant who was sleeping. They turned around to face the unknown boy.

"He's your clone, but he's human. They created him with your blood using him as a lab rat to discover a way to remove the meta-gene. Out of every one of your clones created for the last decade, only he survived the experimentation. Each and every one of them was only a child because they thought it'd be easier if they done it on a younger specimen. He's only two years old biologically but psychologically, he thinks he's eight years old with your memories before your soldier days, but is aware of his real existence."

"Is he any threat to us?" Slade questioned.

"No. He was only created for that reason. If you hadn't rescued him, he would've died in that explosion which was better than the alternative that they had in mind. Child slaves are in high demand these days. He went through a hell of a time in there. Experiment after experiment torturing and killing him but he fought to live each and every time. Even through all that he seems to be fine mentally." She looks at the needle marks on the boy's forearms and then asked, "What the hell were you thinking? I could know the answer by invading your head but that's against my invisible contract so why did you save this boy?"

"He called for help. I was bewildered at first of why I heard a child's voice and then I found him locked in a room."

"You saw him?"

"The door was transparent." He responded and then continued, "He was pleading for me to not let him die. Of course, you know I couldn't deny myself when I was at an age when I was innocent."

A groan was heard behind them. Slade was quickly beside his son to see him slowly open his eyes. "Dad." He said tiredly. "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital, son. Everything's alright."

"Hospital?... What happened? I haven't... seen you for... ten years?...I had a strange dream. There were these titans and..."

"Just rest, Grant. Everything will be explained tomorrow."

"Explain?" He sat up feeling quite well suddenly. "What do you mean explain?! Oh my god! That dream was real wasn't it?! I died! And the Titans! Are they really dead?!"

"Grant-"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" He snapped smacking a heart monitor on the floor.

"Grant, I avenged you by taking down the HIVE, but I couldn't take down the Titans because I couldn't let them kill Joey."

"Joey! What? He's some pretend hero now! I bet you're pretty proud _dad_! It's always about sweet perfect Joey! Well screw him! Screw the HIVE and the Titans, and screw you!" He got off the bed but then saw the world spin that he fell to his knees.

Slade reached for him, but Grant shoved his hands away. "Don't touch me! None of you touch me! Or..." His vision turned blurry. He began panting. "Or I'll kill you." He tried to get up with the last of his strength.

"It's useless to force yourself." A child voice said. Slade and Camouflage looked to the child to see that he was off the bed standing next to the girl who jolted back by the surprise. He walked toward the man reaching out to him.

"I said not to-!"

The boy shush him gently, "It's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you." He placed a hand on his cheek and the other hand on his forehead. "You're burning up really bad. You better get on that bed, or you'll melt the floor!" He told him nicely and then put the man's arm over one shoulder to get him up. Slade helped getting him to bed.

"I..."

"That's enough out of you. When you feel better tomorrow, you can say whatever the hell you want." He placed the blanket over the man helping him close his eyes to fall asleep.

"Wow, talk about letting him down." Camouflage snorted at her own joke. Slade glared at her. She looked away being innocent.

"Sorry, I didn't get to introduce myself first. I'm Slade, Slade Wilson or so I believe." He held his hand up at the real Slade.

He took that hand and said, "We need to talk. Camouflage, leave us."

"You can't be serious." She crossed her arms knowing that look the man had. It meant that a real stupid idea occurred.

"Leave." He ordered.

She looked at the man skeptically but he was the boss so shrugged. "I hope you know what you're doing." And then walked out.

The clone quickly started the conversation. "Before you say anything, I know who I am and I know who you are."

"I know. Camouflage has the ability to check memories including personal thoughts. The people in that facility must've had a habit of talking about me. I'm not surprised that you'd make sense of it." The man sat on a chair that was placed near the corner of Grant's bed. The clone took his seat on his bed.

"So am I in trouble?" The boy questioned bluntly.

"No. So far Camouflage has checked your memory data to know that you only possess memories of my childhood before I escaped to the army but with no vital information."

"Sooooo, I'm not in trouble? What are you going to do with me now?"

"I'll leave that choice up to you. I know me and even if I was a clone, I wouldn't want people making choices for me. It's always been the way I am."

The little kid laughed. "You're right, but I'm just a kid from the 40s, you know. Don't know much about this future. But right now, I just wanna stay here."

"Why?" The man questioned and then saw the boy glance at Grant. "Do you have personal business with my son?"

The boy looked away blushing. "I-I just wanna repay him for something."

"And what's that?"

The boy was silent for a bit debating whether to tell his original or not. Yet, he didn't exactly have a reason not to. "He saved my life back there. Jus' wanna repay him for it. Did you ever have someone save you and you were really grateful?"

Slade remembered having a moment happen to him long ago with a very dear friend. "Yes. I wish I could stop you from remembering more unnecessary memories of my childhood, but Camouflage hadn't exactly mastered deleting memories and reforming them yet."

"I've gotten used to remembering these unnecessary memories, but I'm not you. We may sometimes think alike and I'd look like you someday with both eyes or not, but I'm a different me in a way since I'm no father or mercenary either. Does that mean I'd get my own name so people won't confuse us?"

"I don't see why not. What do you prefer to be called?"

He smiled excitedly. "I always liked the name Alexander but call me Xander for short."

Slade smirked at him having thought the same thing which was strange but not surprising. "Xander it is then."

"Yea!" The boy now known as Xander cheered playfully making the man smile. "Can I also ask for one more thing?"

"You may." He nodded.

"It's awkward to call you Slade and I don't want to be keep calling you 'you' so can I," He blushed feeling awkward. "Can I call you dad because I don't actually have one, you know."

That was an awkward request. "Being my son doesn't exactly has its perks."

The little boy shrugged. "Being your clone doesn't have its perks either."

Making a good point, the man responded, "Then yes, you may." The boy's face lit up. Staring at this point of view, Slade wondered if he really smiled like that back then. Remembering the past, he didn't have much to smile about.

"Can I also ask you another thing?" The little boy asked again.

"What is it now?" The male questioned.

"Can you tell me what's it like? To be a soldier. Was fighting in the war how you lost your eye?"

The vivid pieces of Slade's life flashed before his eyes to see so much blood, explosions and gruesomeness yet honor, valor and adventure in them. "I've fought only in one war. I've fought in other battles similar to it yet it was never claimed as a war by our nation."

He saw the boy stare at him with great anticipation that he wanted to laugh. "I ran away to the army when I was sixteen pretending to have been eighteen..." And so he began talking about his life story in the war. About how he met Wintergreen. He didn't get overly emotional about it.

He talked like a reminiscent old man sitting back on his chair with a distant look in his eye sounding very far away as if his soul was returning back to the old days. He'd get louder at the foolish times and then softer at the grim moments. There was some moments he wished to not talk about, and Xander let him be.

Slade didn't show much emotions on his face but his words and actions said enough. And then there was Camp Washington.

"You fell in love with your teacher? EW!" Xander stuck his tongue out.

"She was younger than me." He remarked. "And a much better fighter back then."

"Was she beautiful?" Xander asked.

"Very." Slade responded with a smug smile.

"Did you love her?"

"Yes, I_ loved_ her." He responded with a reminiscent tone.

"What happened next?" The boy hugged his pillow unable to wait for what happened next.

"We fell in love and married within the year. She was pregnant with Grant but I was sent off to Vietnam. I was there for a few years until the military had _other_ ideas for me."

"They enhanced your meta-gene?" He questioned unsure if he wanted an answer but felt eager for it.

"I didn't know anything about a meta-gene back then. All I knew was that the government wanted me to test a truth serum so I wouldn't give important information, but it was an obvious lie afterwards. They used me to test on the possibility of creating super soldiers. I went insane and then unconscious for a few weeks until I was released. My health was still poor until I gained full control of my new abilities. Of course I didn't tell them that I had it under control which led me to desk duty."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"If I did, I'd become a lab rat and other soldiers would become like me."

"So you did it to be unique?" The clone arched an eyebrow.

"It was more about the lab rat idea that set me off. Back then I'd do anything for my country but not when political and military schemes could be seen a mile away. My gut told me not to so I listened to it. Turns out I was right. Having more soldiers like me would've destroyed this world before Superman existed."

"Who?" The 40s boy was bewildered.

"Another hero. Continuing my story," He told the story of how he became Deathstroke. The man he was today.

"And then what happened next?" Xander asked with wide eyes that awed at the developed amazement.

Slade was silent because what did happen next? He lost everything. "We'll stop there for today. It's already passed midnight."

"What?! It's not like I'm going to school tomorrow!"

"But if you want to take care of Grant, you need all the rest you need." He walked over to the boy who laid on his back groaning.

"You know, if you're married, why aren't you wearing your wedding ring?" The clone pointed out.

"That's another story for another time."

"But you'll be leaving right! You're a mercenary after all! Gotta pay for the hospital bills and stuff!" He pouted.

Slade chuckled. "Get some rest." He told him lightly. The boy closed his eyes and for a moment he almost looked like Grant as a child. An eight year old boy with light blond hair in need of a hair cut and surprisingly silver eyes. Slade's eyes were grayish blue due to the experiment.

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It was a wonderful bright day at a small town as clear white snow glistened. At the town's hospital, a little boy was sitting beside a slumbering man. He changed the cold wet cloth every ten minutes or so to keep his fever down. He read a novel to keep him company.

The child has been learning German by the hospital's librarian, and has been learning other things by the other patients around the hospital when Grant had to be checked by the hospital staff or Camouflage.

The man's grayish-blue eyes finally opened staring at the boy for a few minutes. The boy wasn't aware for being intrigued by the book. "You're..." The man whispered weakly. Xander's head flew up staring wide-eyed at the man finally awake. "You're that kid back at the place."

"Yes!" He answered nervously. "I'm Xander!"

"Grant. Where's da..." He tried to think.

"Dad is coming to visit soon!" He said quickly feeling his heart thump with nervousness.

"Dad? Are you another bastard child of his?" The man asked rudely, though the child only smiled ignoring the attitude.

"I'm actually a child clone of his with a bunch of his memories. That sorta makes us half-brothers since we're daddy and son now." He tried not to sound too excited.

"Clone, huh. It's better you run away from him kid even if you're his clone because he ain't no good to anyone."

"He's better than others." He bit his bottom lip. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember my father being a total dick."

Xander giggled. "I meant at that place silly. You remember me?"

"I remember you being beaten up by a bunch of assholes."

"And you saved me." He turned the wet cloth around. Grant felt a welcome chill on his aching head. "Told me not to let those bastards push me around."

"Don't take it too literal, kid. I just did what I had to do." The man sat up having the wet cloth fall on his lap. "I'm starving! Is there any food in this dump?"

The boy nodded. "I'll go get it!" He jumped off his chair placing the book on it. "Don't go anywhere!" He ordered before leaving. The man merely rolled his eyes. The boy didn't go to the hospital's cafeteria. Instead he exited the hospital, passing by some people he knew who waved hello, to head over to a restaurant nearby.

Grant was flexing his hands testing his vision and movement. He got off his bed slowly to be careful. The last time he jumped out of bed, he almost died by exhaustion. After a few seconds of standing, he took his first steps toward a calendar that showed that he had slept for a week by the details written on it. He then walked over to a closet in the room. There were clothes hung and shoe boxes below.

He took one out that was covered with plastic to see a sticky note stating: For Grant when he wakes up -Slade.

The man crumpled the sticky note throwing it to the corner. He stripped from his dress to see that the training back at the facility paid off. Not a body fat in sight and that said a lot having slept for an entire week. For awhile he flexed his muscles grinning at how his muscles bulge out like those great big athletes.

Done having his fun, he put on some real piece of underwear, and saw that his choice was a suit. He ignored the jacket and tie to settle with just the dress pants and dress shirt.

The door opened and popped out Xander with a bag. "I know that you wouldn't appreciate hospital food so I went to the restaurant to get you some real man food with sweets too!" He stopped to stare in amazement of a Grant fully awake and dressed properly.

The man was a little over six feet tall with a tan complexion since the facility had him also working under heat to see if harm done to him would've exhilarated the healing ability. His light blond hair was spiky due to having been shaved every year or so if it became a problem.

He walked over to the boy taking the bag from him. "Thanks kid." He swatted the boy's novel to the ground to take a seat himself. The boy knew that he shouldn't expect any manners from his hero. He may be his hero, but didn't mean he was that great a person in real life. He remembered the stories Slade told him about Grant.

It took a few days, before the man revealed how he lost his eye and how Wade and Frannie died, including his wife, Adeline and his best friend, Wintergreen. The boy was completely shocked by everything but did not judge him or ask questions. He hugged him. Maybe it wasn't needed but Xander needed it. Something like that, no matter how long ago, would just destroy him.

Xander picked up his book and sat on his bed staring at the man. "So what do you plan to do next when you're better?"

"Don't know kid. The whole world thinks I'm dead and I don't got shit." He continued eating.

"Dad has a place at Kenya. You could work as a hunter. Get to practice your abilities before turning yourself in to the mercenary business."

Grant stared at him. Eyes processing the information. "Not a bad idea kid but relying on dear old daddy isn't what I do."

"It's just a place to stay at. What you do there is your business?" The boy added innocently. He's been planning on this conversation. Slade was well aware of it but what Grant's decision is will be based on him. "You got no money, and since the world thinks you're dead, you could be someone else and no one would look down on you as Slade's _shadow_."

The man stared at the boy feeling a bit suspicious by all this. "And why are you telling me this?"

Xander knew that question was coming so he tried not to be too nervous or eager. "I just thought that since we're both the bastard's sons, I thought you could take me with you." He blushed and then hurriedly added, "Because I'm a kid and obviously daddy has other things to do, so I thought that since you're an adult that we could go to Kenya, earn a little money and then move to America starting your own mercenary business, and I could be your info guy!"

"Info guy?"

"Similar to a technical analyst. I give you information that'll lead you to the best results. I've been honing my skills on computers and succeeded in bypassing several government securities and firewalls, and other things."

"I've been asleep for just a week. How are you able to learn all that in seven days?"

"I met a computer expert here in this hospital in hiding. He taught me the shortcuts and other basics."

"Bypassing several government securities are the basics?" He questioned skeptically.

"It's not?" The boy looked at him completely dumbfounded that the man stared at him the same.

"Are you also a meta-freak like my dad or something?" The man questioned curiously.

The boy shook his head. "I'm just a boy."

"You must be kidding me." Grant held his foot onto his skepticism.

"I'm not! Honest to the Lord Jesus Christ I'm telling the truth!" He did the sign of the cross and then had his right hand over his heart and his left hand up showing his absolute honesty.

"I still don't believe you."

"I'm telling the truth! I checked it myself from dad's friends! I have the files right here to prove it!" He got off his bed picking his mattress up to reveal folders of paper. He took one out randomly and then hand it over to the man. "I have them with me if I don't believe it the next day!"

Grant took a peek not actually reading it and then flipping the pages over and then at the last page there was one sentence written in crayon, "I am human!" With big smiley faces.

He threw the folder onto his bed. "Alright, I get it. Even if this is a trap, I got nothing better to do."

"So that's a yes?" The child stared at him with big hopeful eyes.

Grant was taken back by the intensity of that silver shine. This was the child clone of his father, and Slade's eyes didn't shine like that for a long time. He looked to the side stating roughly, "Yeah, whatever."

"Yes!" The kid pumped his fist to the air.

"But don't get comfortable. Just because your a kid doesn't mean I'm going to baby you or anything."

"He expects nothing less." Slade entered the room. Xander hopped off his bed.

"I'll leave you two to talk!" He walked out of the room.

Slade and Grant stared at each other. "I was eaves dropping." The man said point blank.

"Of course. So are you paying that kid to watch over me or something?" Grant questioned.

"Nope. What Xander said was the truth. He's my clone with my childhood memories. He doesn't want me to take care of him. He wants you because you saved him." Slade explained.

"Uh huh. Whatever. Save him or not, I got nothing else to do so I'll just deal with the kid for now until I got all the money I need, and then I'm flying solo."

"If that's what you want, he won't stop you." Slade responded. "Grant, I'm happy that you're alive. I just thought you should know." He exited the room. Both men flushed by the statement.

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Later, Grant has been spending most days sleeping and experiencing the ups and downs that Camouflage had said. At times the man would act in his normal way and then the next his life was nearly depleted. When it did, none of the doctors touched him since Camouflage had seen that the healing factor will do its job so wasting medical supplies would be pointless.

One night, Grant was woken up by the kid. "What do you want now?" He asked irritatingly. He hasn't exactly regained the skill to sleep and wake up as if he wasn't.

"Can I sleep next to you?" The little boy sounded scared.

"Why?"

"Nightmare."

Grant took a clear look at him to see a scared little boy holding his pillow anxiously for safety. Too sleepy to give a damn, he scoot over, "Hurry up and get in." He ordered. The boy got on the bed and the two got under the blanket.

The bed was meant for one person so to get comfortable the older man wrapped his arm around the small boy pulling him closer.

The next morning, during breakfast in their hospital room, Grant asked, "So what did you have a nightmare about?"

The little boy stopped eating looking down nervously at his food. "Uh, stuff back at that place and...Dad's dad..." Xander was greatly uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Dad's dad? What's to be scared about him?" The man questioned demanding an answer childishly. Xander stared at him for a moment and then looked away. His hand trembled slightly. Grant saw this. "Hey, it's alright. You don't have to answer."

"I know." Tears pooled at his eyes.

"Don't cry. It was none of my business. It's dad's memories any way. Must be pretty fucked up."

"Yeah." Xander responded lamely. "Dad...Dad didn't have such a great life as a kid. I remember things and sometimes I remember some things I shouldn't have." He gripped onto the fabric of his pants.

"Lots of kids don't have great lives. I'm fucked up too."

Xander tried to smile by the comment but couldn't. He looked down at his food and didn't feel hungry any more. Tears flowed down in big droplets onto it. Xander reflexively pulled his forearm to his eyes. His body trembled violently.

Grant felt guilty and uncomfortable by the situation of a kid crying in front of him because of his stupid question. He couldn't let this be. He would be a huge jack ass if he did. "Come here." He ordered roughly acting the simplest way he thought and that was putting the plate of food aside and then holding the kid near.

The man felt the child clench the fabric of his shirt so tightly as if Xander didn't want him to disappear. Grant could relate to that feeling that he held the child closer to reassure him that he wasn't leaving him.

When it came to night, "Grant?" Xander questioned on his bed.

"What?" Grant questioned back on his bed.

"Why are you so mad at dad?" The boy asked.

"Isn't it obvious. He walked out on me when I was a nine. What kind of father walks out on their kid?"

"Did you ask him why he walked out?"

"No. Not like he was going to tell me the truth. I should've known he was Deathstroke. My father gloated about him to me as a child and the only person my dad ever loved was himself."

"Did he ever abuse you?" Xander questioned curiously to have a different view of his original.

"No."

"Did your mom ever abuse you?"

"Ha! As if that bitch ever cared about me! The only one she ever cared about was Joey! Joey this and Joey that! She never cared about how I was doing? She was always busy doing her shit since I was a kid but when Joey comes along, she pushes it all away just for him! You know what?" He got off his bed laughing. "I'm glad she's dead! That bitch and her one and only precious son ruined everything! They're the reason my life is shit! If my mother wasn't such a hag and my brother wasn't such a faggot, my life would've been better!" He ran on with the insults. Face distorted and finger constantly pointing everywhere.

"Because they took you away from dad." Xander interrupted him.

The man stopped silent for a moment. He sat on his bed with his legs spreaded, back hunched over supported by his forearms on top of his legs and his fingers knitted together. "Yeah." He responded honestly. "That bitch wouldn't give me an explanation of why he was gone and dad never even said goodbye. He was gone. Just like that. And I never saw him for _years_. The next thing you know, I get to but I didn't know it was him and before you know it, I'm dead, kid." He looked at the child who was frightened yet intrigued by the information. He breathed out a small laugh. "Get to sleep kid. Wake me up again, I'll kill you." He lied down sideways facing away.

"Good night, Grant." The child lied back down to sleep.

"Night." The man said quickly. Xander knew that Grant wasn't going to sleep soon. Opened eyes and pierced lips, Grant began remembering all the great memories he hasn't remembered for years. All that hate for his father subsided a little to be aimed at his mother and brother. He had to be angry at someone. He didn't want to forgive anyone because he was the victim. A victim to pain he didn't deserve.

A few nights later, Grant woke up to the sound of sobbing. He heard the sound muffled and a sniff. He sat up knowing it was Xander. The boy was lying on his bed lying sideways facing the opposite way.

The man got up carefully to see if he was either up or down. Seeing no bad effects, he walked over to the kid. "Hey kid."

Xander was wide eyed with shock. By the soft light coming from outside, Grant saw that the child's face was wet with tears, eyes were watery and red, and hands still covering his mouth. "Hey kid. What's wrong?"

Xander didn't answer. Instead tears fell all the more. Grant was annoyed by this that he grabbed the kid into his arms and held him. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

The boy finally removed his hands gasping for air as if he hasn't been breathing. "I'm sorry!" He sobbed planting his face onto the man's chest. Hand clenching the fabric of the man's shirt. "You told me-hic-no-not to wake you up a-a-again."

"You should've known that I didn't actually mean it. We're both pretty fucked up right now after everything we went through at that lab. I won't make any promises but if you need someone, wake me up." The child's sobs died down yet the hold on his shirt was tighter. "Okay?" He asked for reassurance.

Xander nodded letting go of that shirt, and wrapped his arms around the man.

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Grant healed rapidly to go on walks or do other things outside the hospital. He had civilized conversations with both Xander and Slade on the arrangements to Kenya. Emotions were subsided for the moment and then Grant would end up in full blown rage when his father did not agree with something he wanted. Xander and Camouflage played as peace makers.

Seeing a pattern as things progressed through time, Xander and Camouflage planned something for the two of them.

"What the fuck?" Grant stated angrily. "I'm not going through some shitty game to make me think everything is fine between me and that son of a bitch!" He pointed accusingly at his father. They had just gotten into an argument recently based on where Grant was taking his mercenary career.

"Grant, we can't continue having arguments delay plans." Camouflage reasoned.

"Shut up bitch! I don't have to listen to you!"

"Grant," Xander said softly. "Just play along with us one time and if it doesn't work out, we won't ask you again." He reasoned. Grant wanted to lash out to not go through with it at all but then the sight of Xander who looked scared stopped him. He took deep breaths in and out.

"Fine!" He growled. "What the fuck do we have to do?!"

"It's simple. You and your daddy will have to stand together facing away from each other." Camouflage explained. The two men complied to her orders. "Now, you can only say everything you ever needed to say to each other."

"Screw that! I'm not going through this-"

"All you have to do is talk!" Camouflage said quickly. "Just talk." She said calmly. "Slade, you go first."

"Alright then," He breathed in and out. "Grant, I honestly didn't know that they would make us do this, but I'm glad they did because I'm sorry if I made you feel abandoned when I left without a word. Your mother finished the divorced papers, and even if I took this to trial, being who I was, it wouldn't have helped, and I wasn't allowed to ever see you again."

"Fuck paper work and all that shit! You could've seen me and you knew it!"

"You're right..." The father sighed through his nose. "No more excuses. I didn't want to see you because I was afraid to make you see me for the monster I am. That night when Joey was taken by the Jackal, I gambled Joey's life in order to protect my pride. Joey almost died that night. I failed as a father not only to Joe but to you, too, because I would've done the same. I would've chosen my pride over you Grant and I didn't want to face you that way. I thought I was protecting you but instead I was pushing you away because I didn't want to face the truth of the man I truly was...A man who loved himself more than his own son. I could never forgive myself since then."

"I would've killed that Jackal before he laid a finger on me."

Slade laughed under his breath. "I never doubted you would. I love you Grant. I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better father."

Grant took deep breaths because he was finally given a reason for why his father left him.

"It's your turn Grant." Camouflage reminded him.

Grant took a deep breath in and was trying to say something but he was deeply conflicted with this. He couldn't. "I can't." He marched out of the room. Xander stayed where he was.

"Aren't you going to go comfort him?" Camouflage asked.

"He needs time to cool down." Xander responded and faced his original who was also emotionally flooded on the inside. "I'm proud of you." Slade looked at him and nodded before exiting the room too for air.

Later that afternoon, Slade found Grant where he thought he'd be. A street fight with a gang to let out steam. After ten seconds, his boy was finished. "Excellent." He commented revealing himself.

Grant took a glance at him before turning away. "I already heard what you got to say."

"But you don't forgive me."

Grant stood still in silence and then faced him, "Ten years I've been waiting for an explanation! The next ten years, I just didn't give a crap because I was dead! You could've told me who you were before I went out there like an idiot!"

"I warned you."

"Warned me as the Terminator! A man who I thought was just a competitor! You faced me as a threat! Not as a father!" Grant pointedly accused him. Slade was silent seeing that Grant proved a graved point. "I don't care what the reasons are anymore! That is dead! I am not the same Grant you knew twenty years ago! I'm not you! I'm sure not as hell that nine year old who kept asking a bitch of a mother where you were anymore and never getting a damn answer! Maybe Joe would've told me, but he was mute and all I got from that was that it was a freak accident! That must've been one hell of a freak accident to have my five year old brother's throat cut making him a mute and mom divorcing you out of nowhere! Everyone lied to me! Do you know how screwed up I felt knowing that even when I was part of this family that not even Wintergreen would tell me what happened?"

Uncontrollable tears fell down his face at the reality he told the man he thought loved him. He let his head fall. "I love you, dad. I always have even when you left me." He lifted his face as the tears fell. "But I can never forgive you for making me a bastard." He walked pass the man to go back to the hospital.

In his room, Xander was sitting on his bed. Grant just sat right next to him. Xander immediately hugged him and then the man hugged him too awkwardly. Grant could not hold onto anyone when everyone he was surrounded with held the truth from him or didn't have the truth at all to save him.

Now he had it all, and was left with so much bottled anger he did not wish to keep. Xander saved him before he fell back to anger by just holding him.

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"It looks like we have the majority of your plans figured out." Slade told his two sons. "I will start making the calls to have them make it ready for your arrival."

"Thanks dad!" Xander thanked him happily.

"Yeah, thanks." Grant thanked him grumpily. He didn't agree to everything but it was settled.

Slade smiled at his two boys. "You're welcome."

"I'm gonna go use the restroom!" Xander jumped off his bed heading out the room.

"If you're not back after five minutes, I'm coming after you." Grant told him.

"Okay!" When he was gone, Slade went to the window locking it.

His son grimaced. "Why do you keep doing that? It's not like I'm gonna run away or something."

"It's not for you. It's for Xander. You noticed how drastic his reactions are to my memories and his own."

Grant grimaced further. Xander has been having nightmares more frequently that their own beds were connected. Last time Grant found Xander huddled on the floor of the restroom bawling his eyes out, or was completely depressed or possibly suicidal that he wouldn't get out of bed.

"I know what happened to you before. Xander told me and told me not to tell you. But I need advice. How did you get out of it? After everything your father put you through, how did you heal?"

Slade was hesitant to answer as he was carefully trying not to remember his past. "It wasn't easy." He responded unsurely yet the words sounded right. He sat on a chair facing his oldest son. "After I was finally free of him, I never felt like I was. To be honest, I'm still struggling with it today. Sixty years has passed, and I still feel vulnerable to what he did to me. It's worse because he was my father and as much as I was the victim, I felt like I was also a potential threat. I was scared to death when your mother was pregnant with you. And sometimes to this day, I wish I didn't come back from Vietnam."

"You thought about abandoning us from the start?" Grant questioned. Not at all surprised.

"If it meant keeping you safe from me, then yes."

"I'm back!" Xander popped in sensing the gloomy atmosphere. "What's wrong?"

Slade stood up. "We were arguing about the plans."

Xander frowned. "That again!"

"It's alright. We settled things before you came back. It's going to be hard."

"What's going to be hard?"

Slade bent down to kiss the child on the forehead. "Growing up. Good night."

"Good night!" Xander shouted as his father locked the door. "I wonder why he keeps doing that. It's not like you're gonna run away or anything." The child got on the connected beds but rolled all the way on Grant's single bed.

The man sighed lying down as well. He stared at the child wondering what he got himself into. Yet, he didn't care for the answer. He just knew that he needed to help him.

"Ready to go to sleep?" Grant questioned.

"Wait!" He scooted a little to the side to give his big brother room. Grant scoot into the space holding Xander close for the reassurance of safety. "Okay!"

"Good night."

The child yawns. "Good night."

Grant turns off the light, and time passed.

_**"NO!" **_

Grant falls off his bed as he tried to understand through the confusion of what's going on. He noticed Xander scurrying off the bed for the door trying to open it in a panic.

Grant grabbed him which wasn't a good idea.

"NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Xander cried as he elbowed the man's face and then dug his nails into his arm. Frantically banging his head back onto his chest. "NO! NO! NO!" He cried raspy as he tried to rip the voice out of his lungs for someone to hear him.

The hospital has been alarmed about this so their patients were given something to make them sleep through this with the aid of money from Slade.

"XANDER! CALM DOWN!" Grant yelled but the child continued to thrash violently screaming "NO!" and then began screaming, "I'M SORRY!" until it began to die down.

For over an hour, Grant held the boy for dear life until he finally settled down. Xander's body was limp yet he breathed. The man continued to hold the small boy like a baby cradled in his arms. That soft light from outside was enough for Grant to see the distant look in the boy's eyes as if he was dead.

"I had enough!" Grant yelled at Camouflage and Slade. They were at the hospital's gazebo. The eight year old was in the room sleeping having exhausted himself last night. "Xander can't continue living like this! It's enough that he deals with his own problems, he doesn't have to deal with yours too!" Grant pointed at his father.

"I know." Slade responded calmly. "But we still don't have a way to cure this without consequences."

"Then what about her!" Grant referred to Camouflage. "You can get into people's minds! Can't you do something about him!"

"Hey, even if I can get into your mind, changing it will be catastrophic. The last time I did it, the person became retarded." Camouflage defended herself.

"Then you expect me to just let him suffer?!"

"We expect you to keep him safe and be there for him until we find an answer." Slade responded reasonably. "I told you that it would be hard."

"Bullshit! Cancel Kenya! None of us are going anywhere until he's cured!"

"Grant, we can't keep you here for too long." Camouflage stated firmly. "We have been here for over two months and your father's enemies are bound to find you and kill you by now. You wanted to be a mercenary, and we made our plans. Stay any longer and the both of you will become defenseless. You might survive but it isn't the same for Xander since he's human!"

Grant was silent walking out of that gazebo and punching a tree off its roots. It scared the citizens around. The male walked back into the hospital and then into the room where his brother was on the bed asleep.

For hours, he sat there next to his brother trying to think of any way to help him yet his mind drew a blank. Grant felt incredibly guilty that he couldn't do anything for Xander. He thought it'd be best for himself to abandon him to pursue his goal as a mercenary surpassing his father. Later he was justifying his thoughts that abandoning Xander was for the better since Grant wasn't the comforting type. And then there was a feeling of agreement and then guilt and then frustration and confusion.

"Grant?" Slade came into the room with Camouflage.

"Hmm?" Grant hummed staring blankly at his little brother.

"You really care for this boy."

"Like you said, he wants me. Not you." Grant responded tiredly feeling the ache between his shoulder blades. The male reached for the child's hand holding it. "I thought complicated things like these only happened in movies at such a short time. It's like a fucking two month long story fit into a shitty two hour movie."

"Xander did his best to make you like him. He always told me when you weren't around that he felt like he screwed up and asked me so many questions on what to do to make you like him. He spent two years tortured in a lab alone. His only reason to live was to meet you."

"Don't make me sound like a fuckin' god." He swallowed remembering when he first saw the boy. He was just doing what he thought was right. Nothing more. But right now, he knew it so well. That if he didn't have Xander, he would be alone, and being alone was heart wrenching.

Camouflage sighed. "I feel like I'm watching a freakin' soap opera. I may have an option of curing him but it might not be for the best."

"What is it?" Grant was quick to ask.

The girl sighed again. "First let me cut it down to you on my powers. I am able to change my form into any kind and connect to minds like the martian man hunter, but reassembling the mind is a lot tougher than you think. The mind is a continuing pattern of thoughts, emotions and a whole lotta things. Basically the brain is made of different cells going in different patterns containing information. I connect to the cells getting my information but rearranging the data isn't like a computer."

"And you're saying?" Grant wasn't catching on.

"Unlike a computer that sticks to one change since it holds simple data besides emotions, the brain is a being of emotions and will react to the change into a bigger output. In short, if I erase information, Xander's brain will panic and it will either stop processing information becoming brain dead or insane in the process. If I add or change the sequence of memories, Xander's emotions will manifest into that and it'll core around that certain memory because the brain is always excited for new information."

"So he might become brain dead, insane or change into a completely different person."

"He might also forget who you are or any importance you are to him. You only did know the guy for two months after all. It'll be wiped out in less than two days!" Camouflage made a good point.

Grant considers the option and then looked at Slade. "What happened to you shouldn't be of any concern to Xander."

"If that's what you believe."

"Then what about blurring the images of the memories and neutralizing the emotions towards it."

"Huh?" Camouflage arched an eyebrow.

"Xander can know the details but its the images and emotions that hits the hardest."

"I could but what if the brain panics."

"Then we'll calm those nerves and add information."

"And if it changes Xander."

"Then we add more. The brain is always changing and adapting. We can use that to our advantage if we play it safe and smart."

"You know you're asking me to do a job that'd take years in his head. I can go very deep that every year in there is only a second out here but I can't promise you perfection."

"Then can you bring me with you?"

"I...I actually can."

"And you?" Grant faced his father. "I understand that you don't want to deal with your memories but I need someone who does know what we're dealing with."

Slade was hesitant yet he nodded.

"Okay then!" Camouflage clapped her hands. "Every one put a hand on Xander's head!" They did as instructed. The teenager placed her hands on both of them. She closed her eyes and entered them into Xander's mind.

_To be continued..._

A/N: So you understand that the setting of this story will happen in **Xander's mind**. And Xander is a** traumatized child **like Slade was before and still is.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Slade, Camouflage and Grant were standing in a dark room yet capable of seeing each other. "Okay, I obviously bought us here to explain how this is going down to make things quicker. Right now every year in here is only a second out there, so we have all the time to get through the details. Right now we are in my safe haven within Xander's mind where whatever he's thinking will not effect us."

Colorful screens appeared before them. "Our objective is simple. You two will go into Xander's memory chamber to fog his memories since erasing them will make the brain panic. I will be here to neutralize his emotions from panicking, but there may be problems."

"What sort of problems?" Slade questioned.

Two screens appeared displaying information. "There are two of them. I had us enter the brain with links to our own mind so if anything happens to you here, it will attack your physical brain having you transfer parts of your brainwaves into Xander's. You are capable of imagining whatever you may need into this brain, but Xander may take it away from you. You can have it back, but it will require your brain's energy which will be making you more real here so you'll be able to feel pain and possibly die and be in a coma, or fuse within Xander becoming two people in one body."

"And why would Xander do that?" Grant questioned.

"It's not Xander directly but a part of him. We all have negative thoughts or nightmares within our brain. Parts of them become two things which are your two problems. One is known as the virus. It's aim is to kill you because it's in their sadistic nature to destroy any positive or different ideas in the brain. We are in fact an idea or a mental form of thought within." Camouflage explained changing the screens as she continued.

"The next one is the endorphins. They will trick you or seduce you to fuse within Xander's mind and stay here forever."

"Because it's in their nature to take whatever good idea and make it stay." Slade stated.

"Correct. Both of them can be anything or anyone they'll believe will work. Are you positive that you want to do this? These viruses may turn into the teen titans or relatives." She paused to see no reaction. A bit of a glare from Grant but restrained. "The endorphins may take the form of anyone you love like a wife or a girlfriend or even Xander himself. The goal is simple, but they may interfere."

"I told you that I will do this. Xander is my brother. I won't _abandon_ him."

Slade felt a dull pierce in his heart knowing that Grant was referring to him. "I agree." Was all he said.

The teenage girl looked them straight in the eye to see that they were serious. She shrugged. "Okay then. Didn't say I warned you." She then suddenly split into eleven people. One stood in front of them while the others worked on different screens. "In order to make sure that you guys will come out safely, you will need to give me a small but important materialistic part of you to find and remind you of your goal."

"Something like this?" Slade reached out his hand that revealed two wedding rings binded together.

"Yes." Camouflage took them and then looked to Grant. The male reached out his hand that revealed a pair of dog tags connected to a silver chain.

"The dog tags I gave you for Christmas." Slade remembered.

"Yeah, but don't think anything of it. It's the only thing I can think about at the moment." Grant gave them to Camouflage. The girl put them into her pocket. "Alright, let's get this show on the road!" An elevator appeared before them. They entered it and then the teenager pressed the last button at the top.

When it opened, they appeared before the lounge of an American 40s theater. "What kind of memory chamber is this?" Grant questioned.

"Everything is a depiction of what you want something to look like. Xander does have Slade's memories in the 40s."

"Frankie bought me to the theater once to watch a movie." Slade explained. They went through a hallway to see signs. Each of them said, 'Korean War', 'Suez Crisis', 'Vietnam War', 'A Father/Soldier's Mistakes', and one that Slade didn't know, 'The Lab's Rat'.

"I thought he only had memories of my childhood." Slade stated.

"He was under a lot of experimentations that caused him to have memory loss. The one's after you became a soldier are shut down. It's a possibility that Xander may have been a different person before each experiment which is why we have to be careful."

"What kind of person could he have been?" Grant asked.

"He could have been like your dad. Practical and mature with understanding of who he was. It's possibly the reason why his other clones died off because they felt suicidal. So the reason why Xander fought to survive was because he knew or thought that you were the son in the memories he did have. Probably thought he could save you to be returned to your real father, but as he began losing them, his reason to survive changed. Maybe he knew that you were important, but important like a brother and a hero instead of a son. Does that change your opinion on him?" She asked him over her shoulder.

Grant looked at her. "No. _Xander_ is who he is now. He isn't you anymore." He looked at Slade and then back at Camouflage. "It might have been only two months, but two months can change a lot in a person, so we're going through with this for _Xander_." He emphasize the boy's name to make the point that he was his own individual.

"Alright." They finally found what they were looking, 'Before a Soldier was born'. "We'll start here and then go to Lab Rat afterwards."

They entered the theater to see that a black n' white movie was playing. A woman was being seen outside through a window with a luggage in hand and a bus opening for her. She never looked back as she entered. Slade was watching with empathy since he knew what was happening while Grant was looking around. He saw someone sitting at the back. A man he didn't recognize.

"Hold my hand." Camouflage said catching both men's attention from their distractions. They did as they were told and then found themselves in the theater box where the old camera was playing the memories. There were shelves of old videos. "We'll start with these." She carefully grabbed a stack of videos in the middle shelf and then place them on a table that appeared with five spray cans on it. Camouflage added two more of herself to speed up the process.

Each of them grabbed a video and a spray can. "Be careful and pull the film with moderate speed. By the time we have, we'll finish this by less than a day in reality."

They set out to work in silence for a while until Grant had to ask, "Dad, I know I shouldn't be asking or caring but why did you come back from Vietnam when you knew you'd screw up eventually."

The man looked to his son briefly before responding. "There were moments I thought I could rise above my father. There were soldiers who were unfaithful to their wives who were taking care of their children, and there were good men who died to never see theirs. I was once close to this soldier. He had a pregnant wife and he was expecting to see her when we were allowed home during the Vietnam War. Right on the day he was allowed to leave, there was an explosion, and he died right in front of me. At that moment, I didn't think about him, I thought about his kid who'd never get to see him, and I couldn't do that to you."

"But in the end you abandoned us."

"In the end, I was worse than my father." There was silence, but Grant knew that he had to tell the truth, "No you weren't." He folded his lips to moist them. "Our deaths weren't your fault. I chose to take the stupid serum like you did, and Joey chose to be a stupid hero."

"I put those ideas on you."

"How were you suppose to know that I'd become an angry lunatic that'll try to kill a bunch of teenagers? You would've been pretty insane." They vaguely laughed as they sprayed the film.

"I would have, but doesn't mean I wouldn't do anything to change what I've done."

"You have Xander to start over. He does need a father."

"That would require me to be more of a part of your life than I should be."

"You would've busted into my life anyway because that's what parents do. Mom always got into mine before I ran away. At least you did a better job at knowing when to not irritate the hell out of me."

"Never had the opportunity."

"Now you do. Don't look at me. I'm not going to do all that mushy stuff."

"I wasn't. We're not that sort of family, are we?" His son mouth the word 'no' as he shook his head. "But I am proud of what your doing son. You'd be a fine father someday."

"Hell no. The first thing I want to end are the generations of psychos."

They stopped talking when they heard a beeping sound. Camouflage's triplets stood up multiplying their arms. "Shit! THINK!" She screeched, but the room blew up first. Each one of them disappearing before their eyes.

The original Camouflage in her safe haven reached for Slade's and Grant's precious items but lightning randomly struck her causing her physical form to crash against a wall and then fall to the floor unconscious.

Grant and Slade still stayed in contact over Xander as the seconds passed horrendously slow as days, weeks, months or years could be passing by before Camouflage could pull them out.

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Grant woke up on the floor of a bedroom. He turned his head to see a nine-year old boy staring out a window being pounded by the rain. A pair of dog tags were held in the boy's fist. The man stood up slowly recognizing the scene.

There was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Wintergreen. "Grant?" The man questioned to the child. "Are you okay?"

The boy looked over his shoulder, and then looked back out the window. He wiped his cheeks roughly with the back of his hand. Taking in a deep breath before letting it out. "I'm fine." He responded stiffly.

The old man knew that wasn't true. He walked over to the kid slowly. "Grant, you need to understand."

"Understand what?" The child turned to him angrily. His eyes were puffy and red. Brilliant silver eyes shone with intensity. Cheeks streaked with tears. Bruises at the child's knuckles as his fist tightened his hold on the dog tags.

"Grant." Wintergreen tried to place a hand on the boy's shoulder but Grant stepped back staring at the man like he was a poisonous yet all-knowing creature.

"No. Understand what? Understand that my own dad abandoned me?"

"He didn't abandon you."

"Yeah, you're right. He left me because of Joe and mom."

"That's-"

"Don't lie to me." Nine-year-old Grant snapped at the man despite their huge age difference. "Just because I'm a kid, doesn't mean I'm stupid! I come back home to be told by a _servant _that my parents are getting a divorce, and I'm not allowed to see him anymore! What do I have to know to understand that?!"

"Don't use that tone with me, young man!"

"Or what? You're not my father!"

"I may not be your father, but I helped raised you!"

"Then tell me what happened!"

There was silence. Wintergreen was at a lost of words. Grant nodded. "That's what I thought." He opened the window and then threw the dog tags as far as he could. A maid came to the room. "Excuse me, there's a cab waiting outside."

"A cab? I didn't call for a cab." The old man was confused until Grant went to his closet and took out a luggage bag. The kid walked passed the maid. "Grant? Grant! Wait, what are you doing?" He followed the boy.

"I'm going back to Switzerland and never coming back!"

"How are you going back to Switzerland?"

"By plane, you old geezer! I'm staying in the boys' dormitory, and don't expect any calls or letters!" Grant stood by the door to give his final words, "And tell my family, 'Fuck you!'" He walked out into the rain, to have his bag taken before entering the cab.

"Grant! Wait! We can talk about this!" Wintergreen shouted, but the cab left immediately.

Grant of the present stared at this scene until everything blurred and changed colors until he was standing in the entryway of his home where he saw his eighteen-year-old self hastily marching down the stairs away from his mother.

"Grant, don't you dare walk away from me!" The woman shouted at him. "Grant!"

Grant remembered this. He came home, not to see his family, but to retrieve something. His fourteen year old brother Joey escalated down the stairs after him, and then held him from behind. They were outside the door where a cab was waiting for him.

Young Grant could feel Joey's tears on his back and his fists clenching the fabric of his jacket. Yet, he forcibly removed his little brother's arms, but Joey kept returning them with more force to keep him. He finally turned around with a threatening glare. He raised his hand, and Joey automatically nodded his head down. Grant ended up placing it on Joey's cheek gently that wasn't bruised as he bent down to kiss his forehead. "Learn a little self-defense will ya." He ruffled his curly blond hair before leaving.

"The thing you came back for was your father's whereabouts through your mother's computer. You thought she wouldn't be back home, but she was told that you were home even when you told everyone not to tell her. The only information you got was that he might be in New York before the two of you got into a fight. Joey tried to play peacemaker but you ended up smacking him right on the face. Oof! We really are alike."

Grant turned around to find himself in a large red room filled with old children toys. He shouted, "Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious? You saw me at the theater didn't you!"

The male remembered the man. He turned around and there he was standing in front of him. A white man slightly as tall as him, lanky body, five o'clock shadow with brown hair and eyes. He wore a pleated shirt with a gray inside shirt and dark worn jeans. A very handsome man indeed. "That still doesn't answer my question."

The man chuckled. "I don't look much like him do I? He did take mostly after his mother after all."

This made the younger man slightly widen his eyes as he came to the revelation. "Nathan Wilson."

"Please, call me Nate or your grandfather."

"You're the bastard who abused my father!"

"Pfft. Not like you did any good yourself." He shrugged his shoulders raising his eyebrows and lips.

"I didn't lock him in a basement." The furious man growled.

"Back then it was considered discipline. Slade was a very naughty boy. Wouldn't shut up when I told him." Nate began to walk towards and around the blonde. "Other than that, it's true, isn't it? You always had that urge to hurt someone because it felt like the best thing to do. It's because it's in your blood. Right down to every chromosome from your dear o' daddy. Why do you think your father kept such a close eye on you? Because you're his favorite? No! It's because he saw the monster you are." He stood in front of him. "Must be after you shot an innocent squirrel or bullied poor sweet Joey."

"Are you suppose to be a virus? Didn't know they talked." Grant changed the subject.

The man snorted and then laughed loudly. "Boy, you certainly are interesting! A virus? An endorphin? Tell me, boy. Am I killing or seducing you?"

"Distracting me." Grant responded.

"Good! Good. I'll go ahead and tell you what I am! I believe your friend Camouflage forgot to tell you about my kind."

"Or maybe she never approached a bastard like you."

"Bastard this. Bastard that. Stop insulting yourself grandpa boy!" He jabbed his fist into the man's kidney. Grant instinctively felt the pain yet calmed himself to remember he was just in a dream. "Good. You're catching on quickly. If only it was the same for your father or Xander."

He stepped away to reveal Xander standing in bewilderment. He ran to Nate holding onto his pants. The child stared at him with frightened yearning eyes while having his arms wrapped around the man. "Give him back." Grant ordered not sure if this was the real Xander or not.

Nate let out a short breath of laughter. "Stop bein' so funny boy. Give him back? As if you own him? You only knew him for what? two? three months? Just because he overreacts to his nightmares, you suddenly became protective? No. It's because he's the first person you felt that ever_ truly_ cared about you. Who hasn't hurt you yet, but just you wait. He'll disappoint you just like your father."

Xander shouted, "No! Grant! He's lying!" He tried to reach for him but was hauled back. "SHUT UP!" The man smacked him to the floor. "I TOLD YOU TO NOT SAY A DAMN WORD! WHY CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHIN' RIGHT?!"

Grant grabbed the man by the collar to punch him but was zapped backwards. No pain but he was bloody angry. "Touch him again and I'll kill you!" He threatened.

"Ooh! Scary! Isn't he scary?" He asked the child. "You should be scared of me. I am worse than any virus or endorphin you will ever meet." The man walked over to Xander. Grant charged over to him. Nate held his hand up. "I'm not going to touch him like you asked." A bat formed at his hand and batted Xander right on the face. Blood spilled out. The man had his hands midway up. "I didn't touch him. My bat did."

"You Mother Fucker!" Grant tackled the man down and went for a punch but the man suddenly disappeared.

"This is a dream remember, but I'm very real in my son's and his pretty pathetic clone's heads. Because I'm his father and this waste of trash's own genuine nightmare after all. I am all your fuckin' nightmare!" He grabbed the child.

Grant reached for him yet found himself chained to the ground. "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH HIM!" Completely enraged, Nate caught on fire before he could hit the child again.

Nate looked at his own hand on fire giving Xander the opportunity to run off to Grant. "Grant!" He held the man.

The chains disappeared when Grant hugged the child back. "It's alright Xander. I'll protect you."

"You promise?"

"I promise I'll try because this is your own mind too, okay. That man there isn't real. I need you to forget him so he'll be gone alright."

"What're you talking about?"

"You're dreaming." Grant responded leaning backwards to hold Xander's head. Silver meeting grayish-blue due to the serum. "None of this is real. Camouflage bought me and dad here so we could take your nightmares away."

"You came here to do that? Why?"

"Because I never want to see you be scared like that again. I want to take that fear away. I care about you okay." Grant confessed feeling like a boulder was getting off his chest. He hugged the child again. "I want to protect you."

"Why?"

"Because you give me a reason to not be an idiot anymore."

"Even if I'm the clone of your dad, or I feel protective like a dad."

"It's all just blood and cells, and you're not dad. Everything else is just you Xander."

"I don't feel like Xander." The child suddenly disappeared.

"What? NO! What the fuck did you do?!" Grant roared.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You actually think I'd hand over the real Xander! That was just an endorphin! A small one, but if that endorphin was for real, he'd make you think you woke up, but then the draw back is that he doesn't have extensive knowledge of this future of yours." The burning man returned to his normal form. "I think it's better if you leave this dream and forget this piece of trash before you end up in a coma forever."

A rain drop dripped on Grant's cheek. He looked upward to see a raining gray sky. The feel of cool wet drops against his skin. His hand gripped onto a gun, a heavy bag felt on his shoulders and his clothes changed into a military uniform.

A group of men were stealthily walking through the jungle. "What's wrong Wilson?" He was smacked on the back of his head. A helmet sliding forward blocking half of his vision. "Move yer sorry ass, n' keep movin' or else those fucking Charlies are gonna get ya!" A man shouted at him with great frustration.

"Charlies?"

"The Vietcong dumbass! Didn't ya listen or are ya that stupid?! Now stop bein' an idiot and move out Wilson!" The man charged slowly with his head focused on everything in front of him.

It didn't take Grant much to know where he was. He was in the Vietnam War.

_To be continued..._


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you anon for your review! But I'm sorry to disappoint you because I'm not following the TV show series, I'm trying to follow the comic series, but you did give ideas I didn't think about so thank you! **When reading this, remember that the date is made up along with everything else.**

Chapter 4

A semi-bald man with a beard in a v-neck entered his office to find a thirteen year old blonde boy with gray eyes sitting where his patience would lie down. "You must be Slade Wilson. How did you get into my office?"

"Picked the lock." The child responded bluntly. "A WWII vet?"

"Hm?"

"Your scar tells me." Slade clarified. The man had a scar on his face above his right eye that reached to his temple. "It's barely faded so you didn't get it during your childhood and your wrinkles make you look old enough to have been a young adult during the war. Your clothes are neat but not neat enough for OCD. Your hands are still and worn showing that they've been used to handle rough things and to be that still must mean that you have learned to calm down at hard situations. Plus you stand in attention like a soldier."

"And how do you know how a soldier stands like?"

"My mother told me. She would watch the military boys and try to mimic them since she was a little girl."

"And by mother, do you mean..." The man took a seat.

"My biological mother." Slade responded.

"So why are you here Slade?"

"I was sold by my father and now I'm back here. Frannie sent me here thinking that I must've been scarred or something."

"But what is it truly? How do you feel after coming back from where you've been?"

"Where I've been?...Where do I start?"

"Let's start at the beginning."

On May 12, 1935, a woman was drenched in sweat having her blond locks stuck to her skin. Every single fiber in her being told her to push to relieve the pain of her lower half that was being torn apart. The doctor in between her thighs was telling her something but all went deaf as she screamed out her last push.

First she felt a pang of panic when everything went silent until she heard the baby cry. She sighed out her relief when it was finally over and her baby was being taken away to be cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket before she could hold her precious baby. "Congratulations ma'am. It's a boy." The nurse told her.

The woman felt like she could cry, but she was too tired to cry. She took a look at her baby to see her baby boy's eyes closed, but then they opened to reveal silver eyes just like hers. "Hello. I'm mama." She whispered to him with joy, and then found the energy to cry when he reached his tiny hand out and grabbed her pinky with a strong grip.

After a day of rest, a woman came into the room, "Mrs. Selene Wilson, what would you like to name your son?"

The new mother smiled with a twinkle in her eyes, "Slade. Slade Joseph Wilson."

"You look like you really gave this much thought." She told her while writing the name on her clipboard.

"Yes, I did. He's my second chance."

Selene Wilson as a young woman had dreams of becoming a soldier, but was smitten by Nate Wilson who promised her many things. She didn't think that after they got married that he would start taking his stress out on her.

She wanted to run away, but when she discovered that she was pregnant and had no family to turn to since they shun her for reasons nobody knew. She stayed with him in order to raise her child under a roof. She tried her best to raise her son and protect him from his father.

Slade as a child was often scared and confused when he heard his parents arguing and things breaking. There were also nights when things would be silent which only scared the boy more because he was anxious for a sound to be made. Yet his heart would be at ease when his mother would enter his room to comfort him.

The boy lightly touched her purple cheek. She pulled that hand away gently. Tears pooled in his eyes, but his mother told him to stop. "Don't cry Slade. It's a sign of weakness. You can't show that to anyone or else they'll take advantage of you." Slade nodded and breathed in deeply and out shakily, but he did as he was told because it made his mother smile despite the pain of it. "That's my boy. You're gonna be a good man when you grow up. A better man than your father. What do you want to be in the future?"

"A soldier!" The blonde child responded proudly.

"And why do you want to be a soldier?"

"Because I'll protect my country, and my family. I'll protect you mama." Slade leaned forward to use both his hands to strongly grasp his mother's own.

"Yes you will." She ruffled his hair and kissed his nose.

"SELENE!" Nate yelled indignantly. "WHERE ARE YOU?! THE FUCKING MILK IS ALL OVER THE DAMN FLOOR!"

"I don't like how daddy talks to you." The boy told her.

His mother sighed. "That's why whatever your father does, you don't do. Do not be a coward and do not treat people differently for what's on the outside."

"SELENE!" The man shouted again.

Selene Wilson rolled her eyes. She told Slade to go to bed, and then walked out of the room.

Slade didn't know his father well. He wouldn't be home in the morning and then he'd be home late at night always making a racket that'd wake him up. It wasn't until one day when his mother was out to buy groceries did his father come to the house early slamming things shut and shouting obscene things with his mother's name.

Not wanting his father to get anymore angry that he'd hurt his mother worse, he appeared before him and became the victim of his venting. His father kept telling him that he was worthless and everything that went wrong was his fault. When he noticed that his son wasn't crying, he'd demanded that he'd cry, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't show the man a sign of weakness even when blood spilled down his nose.

The father became more annoyed by this that he grabbed Slade by the hair and dragged him into the bathroom where he attempted to drown the boy hoping he'd beg for his life. The boy struggled but he didn't cry out. Instead he glared at the man.

The man tried to glared back with as much intensity as his son, but he looked like a fool. Not able to stand it, he kept the boy down longer until he stopped struggling and the bubbles of air stopped.

"NATE!" Selene pushed the man away from her son. She pulled Slade out of the tub and desperately performed CPR. Her arteries twisting and heart swelling up as the seconds past that her son didn't breathe. She ignored the accusations of her husband that told her that this was all her fault.

She gave one more push on her son's chest to hear her son cough and gasped for air. "Slade! Slade!" She cried his name over and over again until it became a whisper. Holding her son to her bosom, her son heard his mother's heart beating quickly.

The woman stood up carrying him out of the bathroom. "Where do you think you're going?!" The man questioned.

The woman didn't respond. She quickly got out of the house putting her son in the car and drove away to the hospital to make sure that he was alright. His son was put into the emergency room to be checked for any broken ribs.

Almost an hour later, the doctor came to her, "Despite the injuries your son was dealt with, he is okay. Do you have any idea of how this happened?"

Selene was so tired from stress that she didn't care that she told the truth. "My husband..." She breathed out shakingly feeling the emptiness to those words. "That man came home earlier from work while I was out buying groceries... He always needed someone to hit, and my son was in the house alone." She said the last word a pitch to high. "I thought about bringing him shopping with me, but he wanted to finish his homework, and told me that he'd be fine without me. He wasn't. That bastard hit him! That bastard drowned him! THAT HEARTLESS COWARD ALMOST KILLED MY SON!" She screeched scaring the other people in the room.

The doctor cleared his throat. "I am sorry for your misfortune Mrs. Wilson. I wish there was anyway I could help."

The woman shook her head. "Don't call me Mrs. Wilson. Is my son asleep?"

"Yes. He fainted once we laid him on the bed."

"Can I be with him til he wakes up?" The woman asked with a distant kind voice.

The doctor felt sympathy for her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes you can."

Selene almost broke to tears since its been so long since someone has touched her with kindness. "Thank you." She breathed out and then walked into the room. Her son was sitting up. His nose was bandaged and his right eye was black and swollen along with his cheeks and arms. "Slade, baby, everything is going to be alright." She placed a gentle hand on his head and caressed his hair. "None of this was your fault. I shouldn't have-"

"It's not mama's fault either. Daddy is daddy. Mommy is mommy, and I am just me. I did what I thought I needed to do so daddy wouldn't hurt you more than he does now. It could've been you in that bath tub." The seven year old touched his mother's cheek. "So don't cry mama, because I will too, and my eye hurts too much to cry."

Selene laughed under her breath placing her hand on her son's hand on her cheek. She was about to place the other on her son's cheek but the boy gently pulled it away because it hurt to touch a bruised cheek. Then the boy told her seriously, "We need to leave daddy."

She responded seriously back, "I know but we don't have enough to live off."

"Then we'll get odd jobs while we travel. I don't mind having to sleep in the streets. It's better than always coming home to him." Slade told her convincingly.

The woman was almost swayed. She smirked, "The streets are more dangerous than your father."

"We can fend for the both of us. We both know how to unhand a man with his gun, and there's gotta be some good people out there who'll help us. You always told me happiness isn't easy mama. You have to work for it."

She saw how confident her son was. The world out there was cruel, but it had to be better than never being happy in a place that wasn't a home. For the rest of the day, they planned out their future such as their new identities and occupations until they began talking about ridiculous things that made them smile.

After a good sleep, the two left the hospital hand in hand to the car. "Are you sure that he won't be home?" Slade asked.

"The man needs his beer, and the house doesn't have any. He must be at the bar."

"I think we shouldn't bother going home at all. There's gotta be a charity with free clothes somewhere for the poor."

"Even if that's true we still need money for gas. It's a big country, and we can't get far by just walking. It'll be quick. Get all the things you think you need and we'll be out the door and then out of here." She told her son reassuringly. Slade knew something bad was about to happen deep in his gut, but then he trusted that his mother would be right.

They went to their house, got out of the car, opened the door, and then entered the silent house only to hear a burp from the living room where Nate Wilson was sitting on the couch with a can of beer in hand. There were more empty cans scattered on the floor. The man had yellow sunken eyes with smiles underneath which showed that he was drunk.

Selene automatically stood in front of her son, and then looked over her shoulder at him, "Slade, go to your room and pack your things."

Nate slammed his can on the end table "No. You're not." He took out a pistol from his pocket. "No one's leaving here. You hear! You are my wife! You do what I say! You belong in the kitchen! You whore!" The man spatted out while waving the gun carelessly. Slade tried to calm his heart like his mother who kept a firm stand and a steady hand on his head to keep him near.

She raised her hand slowly. "Okay. I'll go back to the kitchen. Just put that away."

"That's right." The man chuckled getting up from his seat. "You will do as I-" Nate Wilson slipped on a beer can accidentally pulling the trigger. Slade watched his mother be pushed back by a punch of force to her abdomen. Her hold on Slade loosened as her body timbered down on the ground. Blood soaking her clothes.

"MOM!" Slade cried for her. He ran to the phone and called 911 immediately and could only tell the woman on the other line that his mother was shot before his father pulled the telephone off its cord and threw it against the wall. "Why did you do that?! They don't know where we are! Mom needs help!"

His father grabbed him roughly by the arm. He showed a lame expression of anguish that didn't try hard to mask the guilt. He spatted out through his teeth, "Listen to me you fuckin' brat! You are telling no one about this! No one!" He dug the pistol into the child's cheek. "Or else you're next!" He threw Slade on the floor. The kid went over to his mother who was still scarcely breathing.

Nate just left them to gods know where while the little boy was helping apply pressure to the wound by taking off his shirt to block too much blood from flowing out. He knew that the bleeding won't stop. He didn't know how to perform surgery to make sure that his mother wouldn't just end up swelling up and die due to infections. "Mom, I'll go to the neighbors and ask for help!"

"No." She told him weakly. "Slade, I'm going to die."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" The child looked away trying not to cry.

"Slade." His mother called for him firmly. "I don't have much time so look at me, and don't cry." She breathed in and out and made herself feel pain to feel a jolt of life to continue. Slade looked at her while forcing himself not to cry. His mother smiled weakly. "That's my good boy. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A soldier." Her son told her softly.

"And you will be. You're going to be the best soldier ever. You'll be better than...your father." His mother told him weakly. "You'll see more of this on the battlefield Slade, so you need to be strong."

"But you were innocent."

"The innocents also dies Slade. It takes sacrifice to make someone heed to someone else." She stopped to breathe. "It's all a part of war, but it doesn't mean that you have to do it. Others will do it, and you'll feel sad but... you need to move on. When I die, I need you to move on."

"I don't want to forget you."

"You don't have to. Remember me...but don't let me get in the way of your life." She caressed her son's cheek. Slade held it there even though it was covered in her blood. The smell of it bitterly mocking the fact that he can't do anything.

There were finally sirens outside the door. One of the neighbors must've heard the gunshot. "Do not say a single word." His mother told him.

"Why?" Slade was confused until his mother responded, "It wouldn't matter. That man is going to take you and run away to create a new life. I need you to live, Slade. Tell me that you will."

Hearing those words sounded the same way as a final goodbye, so Slade told her the same way, "I'll live mama."

The woman smiled and then let out a single tear before the policemen entered the house. One of them called for a medic while another one helped carry Slade out of the house to be placed at the back of one of the ambulances. One of them checked him and then asked, "Did the who ever did this hurt you?"

Slade didn't respond. He was in too much shock to respond. The guy wrapped a blanket around him that did nothing for him. He just kept thinking back to his mother's words. His mother cried, so when the people came out, he wasn't surprised that a body bag came out with them.

He ran to it placing head and hands on the plastic feeling the edges of his mother's body. He grasped it hard while his whole body trembled. He then let it go. He took a deep breath and then turned away returning to the ambulance. He let himself let go of the pain he had for his mother and moved on never forgetting her nor letting her get in the way of his reasonable side such as not murdering his own father.

"So your mother told you to live?" The therapist asked.

"Yes." Slade nodded. "I didn't actually let go of the pain instantly but little by little I learned to move on."

"How so?"

"The longer I lived, the more I convinced myself that she was happy even when I wasn't."

For the next few months, Slade had been dragged by his father around the country until he believed that they were far enough in a town where no one knew them. He ended up marrying Frannie who was a police woman and then they had Wade for a cover up to make himself look like a good person, and they believed him.

Slade's Wilson wasn't his real last name, but it just stuck since his real identity was kept a secret.

Three years went by and little by little did Frannie began to realize what Nate was doing to him once the man got too angry that he locked Slade in the basement which led to a search. His father tried to make it seem like Slade was kidnapped but the detective saw through his disguise.

Frannie filed for a divorce and full custody of Slade, yet Nate wasn't the type who liked to lose. In an act of anger, the man did kidnap Slade.

Right then they were in his car waiting in front of a deserted trench. Slade said nothing. He didn't feel anger. He nearly died from starvation but the ten year old reasoned that he'd get his revenge the best way possible. It wasn't killing the man, so right now wasn't the opportune moment.

His father kept telling him that people were crazy. He's been always trying to tell Slade things about the world. He'd listen since he had nothing to do, yet didn't believe the man. It was too late to brainwash him when he wasn't there for the first seven years.

Wanting to stop him from talking more nonsense, he asked about how the trenches were made. The man told him that the water made them through using the definition of erosion. That with enough time, the hardest things can break.

Soon after, a car drove towards them. Slade felt a pang of fear because it wasn't a police car. Three men exited the vehicle, and so did they. The fatter man with a smug smirk on his face and brows furrowed had said enough that he was the leader while the other two were his lackeys.

"Well, Wilson, do you got what I want?" The leader inquired.

"The ten grand is what I owe you Rossi. Then here." Nate pushed Slade in the arms of the two men.

"Dad? Dad!" Slade cried out as he was struggling from the two men. "Don't let them take me! Please! Dad help!" Yet he was forced into the car to sit in between one of the henchmen and the gang leader. As the car drove, he looked back through the windshield at his father who was leaving. He wanted to cry but then reasoned that he wasn't surprised that it came to this.

"Sit back down son. You'll attract police."

"That'd be a good idea." He sat back down.

The man chuckled. "Wouldn't work though. I probably own every policeman in the city."

"So what're you going to do to me?"

"Whatdya think we're going to do to you?"

"Human traffic me. His abuse didn't just stopped with hitting me." He looked to see the man's reaction to be cold and still as if glass was breaking in his mind.

"You must be a brave lad." The man couldn't think of anything else to say.

Slade told him, "I'm not. Bravery is for those who fight against their fears. I'm not afraid of him. I would never be afraid of worthless people."

That made Rossi laugh. "I think we got a wise guy here!" He place a hand on the child's shoulder. "Don't worry kid. I bought you for something else."

The ten year old kid found himself learning the way to live in the streets as a criminal, but what he mostly did was become a distraction and a misinforming witness to the police all around the country.

Rossi taught him and showed him the highs and lows of being a criminal. The strange thing was that he felt like the man was like a father.

"Ya see son, you have ta hold that gun firmly so you won't drop it or have it stolen from you." He made Slade firmly hold a pistol in his hands and face it towards a tied up bleeding man who was whimpering with tears. "Pull the trigg'r."

He shot the man point blank in the head. The gang leader clapped his hands happily, and then ruffled the child's hair. "Bulls eye! You're a natural kid! You'll make a great hitman someday!"

"But I don't want to be a hitman." He told him, and then the man asked, "Oh, so whatdya want to be?"

"I want to be a soldier." He shot the man again but in the heart this time.

"An army dog? Yur gonna fight for the great United States of America? The land of the free. All that bullcrap." The man sat down taking out a cigar to smoke.

"It was something my mom wanted me to be before my dad accidentally shot her." he shot two bullets. Each taking out one eye. The already dead man fell to the floor.

Rossi got up and took the gun away. "Why's that?"

"She wanted to be a soldier but my dad tricked her into marriage and got her pregnant."

"Well if you need any advice from a drug lord like me, it's that you have to do whatever the job tells ya no matter what. If you're ordered to kill someone, do it, but don't get ahead of yourself. Kill the enemy and only the enemy." He patted the boy's cheek.

Slade looked at him and then back at the dead man tied up. 'Kill the enemy and only the enemy'. That was the most valuable thing he learned from Rossi.

Until after three years with him, the FBI finally got them connected to a conspiracy through one of their business partners.

Rossi, Slade, another man and someone they were meeting was in an empty apartment room discussing business until that someone was assassinated by a sniper. Rossi was stabbed in the abdomen by the other man.

Slade felt a second of shock as he watched another person he cared for killed before him in a blink of an eye. Then in fury, he stabbed the traitor back over and over again until he stopped moving. Then like before, he took off his shirt to press on Rossi's wound knowing that it was happening all over again. "Son," The man coughed up blood and then grinned. "I'm proud of you." He let out one pathetic high pitched laugh until he died.

The thirteen year old was still for a moment staring at the man who's been like a father to him. He remembered the philosophy that he should only kill the enemy, and so used that to remember him, but not allow him to stop him. He closed the man's eyes and then took out the box of matches in the man's pocket to set his shirt on fire. There was no way he was going to let the police take Rossi's body so lit the room on fire leaving the police to call the fire department that came too late to stop the fire from having an explosion and completely making the bodies in the room turn to ashes.

Slade was able to escape and then planned his next move to find and go back to Frannie and Max where he was reunited with six year old brother Wade, and a new friend named Squirrel.

"And that's the story." The child finished.

The man was intrigued. "So let me get this straight, you had no social interactions with your father for seven years until the day before your mother was shot. Your father ran away with you to make a new identity with a new family and continued to abuse you until he got carried away again which led him to selling you to a man who became a better father than your own, but died during an FBI expedition."

"Yes." The child responded simply. "I have nightmares about my father, my mother, Rossi and the basement, but what truly terrifies me at night is when I wake up and the world is at peace."

"Because?"

"My father is still alive and I want his life to turn to hell."

"Are you going to murder him?"

"No. You mistaken my hostility towards him. My strength had always made him weak and feel more humiliated in himself to have not been the better man he always wanted to be. I'll do exactly what he hates. I'll become the better man."

So three years later, Slade ran away from home to the military where he excelled in only over a year to rank sergeant and was called into his first stint in Korea. He expected to kill the enemy and only the enemy, but then his lieutenant had other ideas. That fated day when innocent people were killed, he made his moral code. A twisted mental rule that no one would understand.

Later that day, the lieutenant dealt with his actions personally only to have been helped by the man who would become his first true friend, William Wintergreen.

"Say, I do hope you didn't mind my stepping in like that, eh? Just needed the exercise, you know." The man spoke in a British tone. It was warm, comforting, understanding and modest.

"W-Who...?" Slade looked up at the man feeling the warm blood flow over his mouth.

"A friend, that's all lad. Hand?" Wintergreen extended that hand towards him, and Slade held it never knowing how far this friendship would go. The fact that the man risked his life to save him twice after the lieutenant had sent him into foolish missions.

On the street, he learned that every man was only there for himself but the military taught him differently. He had seen the worst and best in people in wars and battles. He had seen the best and worst of himself. The worst having left a fellow soldier to die for a mission had broken his code that a man wasn't to be left behind. Yet he also saw the best of himself through achieving other missions with morals included. His personality began change and develop into that of what's between a beast and a gentleman who knew sarcasm and used it as a weapon. He was finding middle ground through his adventures. Especially with Wintergreen.

"My father was a Nazi even though my mother was a Jew. I always admired him as a child but then after learning of what he was doing, I ran away from home and joined the military." William confessed of his childhood in the dark of night with Slade. They were guarding an important figure in a foreign country together.

"A traitor huh? My dad...My dad was a lot of things." Slade began to feel that uncomfortable feeling on his chest and back. He once could speak of his dad like he was a complete stranger, but he guessed that was because the therapist was a complete stranger. Wintergreen wasn't.

They shared the happier part of their lives that was mainly in the military and people close to being call family. They also shared the futures they sought and believe, and felt that security of their lives being placed in the right hand.

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. I find it hard to talk about my father too. I just thought you should know." Wintergreen told him kindly.

"No. I trust you and to be honest I hated my father more than anything in the world after what he did to me, but I live because of him. I want to become a better man than he was, and I built my life to becoming a soldier in order to achieve that. A soldier is who I am and who I always want to be."

Wintergreen placed a hand on Slade's shoulder. "And you will Slade."

"If you guys wanna shag, lucky you! It's my turn." The other soldiers came.

Slade remembered laughter followed afterwards as he was riding a bus towards a secret military camp facility. He was sitting next to a man named Bob Walsh who was talking all hot shot to him reminding him of his father which annoyed him but then kept himself calm for the hours of travel until the were to line up for their leaders.

Many of the men were surprised to see a woman walk with the male leaders. Not only for her gender but her beauty. Her green eyes and plump pink lips made her a beauty to many of the young men's eyes. Not so much Slade's.

The man recognized her as a leader first so treated her like one unlike the others like Bill who commented on her figure. He whistled a tune to her finest. "She can guerilla me any time to go fight some low life scums. Wouldn't mind showing her what a real man's made of."

The other men agreed. Bill noticed Slade hadn't. "What's wrong Slade? The lady's not good enough for you."

"No. She's great." Slade responded simply to not cause a fight on their first day.

"ALRIGHT LADIES! NIGHTY NIGHT TIME!" The lights turned off and Slade lied down on his flat bed sleeping once he closed his eyes.

The next few weeks, Slade excelled above all the soldiers without hesitation or restraint. He caught the eye of all his leaders. Mostly Adeline Kane. She watched him with keen interest from afar as he ran and crawled through the mud.

"Wilson right?" The woman asked her higher rank officer.

"Yes Miss Kane. He reached the rank of sergeant in less than a year." The man responded. "Always was the top of his class and did anything his commanding officers would say."

"So he's a teacher's pet."

"Perhaps so. The reports say that he's been a good sport. Practical, modest, well rounded among men like a natural leader- A real American trooper."

"Never got in trouble?"

"Nope."

Adeline found that odd since when someone was too good meant that they were hiding something, so she set out to find out. Yet ended up in a six month love affair with the man.

"You had a romantic relationship with your commander who is your wife now?" The therapist questioned the man who came back after a traumatizing experiment.

"Yes. I felt nothing but complete admiration for her as I did for all my commanders until she bested me in combat. Never saw her coming."

"Was that when you fell in love with her?"

"...No. I just held her more worthy of my admiration than most."

"Who do you consider more worthy than your wife?"

Slade hesitated with an answer and then responded, "The only people I seem to trust. The only one alive is Wintergreen."

"I see. Back to your wife, when did you began to fall in love with her that you'd want to marry her after only six months. That's a bit soon compared to today's standards."

"My marriage to my wife was purely for the sake of becoming that better man. I do love her wholeheartedly that I'd protect her and my son Grant. We have a second one coming."

"Oh? A boy."

"We're not sure yet but if it were to be a boy again, I plan on naming him Joseph."

"Your middle name? Most fathers would call their sons by their first."

"My middle name is more special. My mother's brother's name was Joseph. Joseph was a saint, but even he had a dare devil inside him when he wanted to drive my mother's car just to show off to his friends. Didn't know which pedal was the breaks so died in a crash."

"You told me before that you didn't know why she wouldn't see her family. Is Selene even your mother's name?"

Slade looked straight into the man's eyes. "I'm willing to tell what basically happened to me but names and reasons are a bit too personal. Don't you think doctor?"

"They are. But telling me the story shows that you're more open even after going through a war like Vietnam."

"Showing emotions is a sign of weakness, my mother would always say. Back to her backstory, her parents blamed each other and wanted a divorce. It was ugly. When she tried to intervene, they just put the blame on her since it was her car. Ran away the next day and she was only sixteen so couldn't get into the army. So she became a waitress and met my father. The rest of the story you know from you past notes."

"Yes. You were more distant and emotionally restrained. Now you have complete control of your emotions. It scares me."

Slade held in his laughter behind a smile. "Why is that doctor?"

"Because of what will happen when those emotions break. Your strong, intelligent, clever and now you survived a serum that killed every patient before you. The military never makes you leave the same man."

"You're right. They lied about the whole thing. They wanted to make me something else."

"Now what are you going to do about it?"

Slade smirked at the man, "Be a soldier."

So Deathstroke was created, and Slade woke up in freezing cold water. He pushed himself out to breathe.

"Slade?" He heard Adeline's voice through the door.

"Daddy?" Joey's voice rang through it.

Slade rubbed his eyes and then stopped to realize that he had his other eye. He doesn't remember what happened. A voice in his head told him that he was taking a bath to prepare himself for something big.

"Dad! We need to hurry up!" Grant's voice shouted pounding his fist on the door.

The confused man dried himself with a towel. "I-I'm almost finished." He put on the suit and then opened the door to find Adeline, Joseph and Grant standing there.

"Honey, what took you so long?" Adeline asked as she fixed his tie. "We're going to be late for Grant's big day."

"Grant's?"

"I'm getting a medal for my services in Afghanistan." The man told his father proudly. He was wearing a military outfit with his hair slicked back. His grey eyes sparkling by his triumphs.

Slade knew something was wrong but didn't know what it was. He felt like he now remembered that the ceremony was happening today and he was proud. "Yes, it seems I slept in the bathtub."

"Are you okay father?" Joseph asked worriedly. "Perhaps you should rest."

"And miss my boy's big day? Never." He smiled approvingly at Grant. "Let us go."

"Oh, and Rose and Lily are joining us." Adeline said.

Slade then remembered that the perfect life before him wasn't so perfect. Him and Adeline had a falling out a few years ago which had him have an affair with a woman he saved in Cambodia which led him to having a daughter. There was many complications but then they learned to be a family.

Adeline didn't hate Lily and Lily didn't envy Adeline. They understood their positions, feelings and worked it out for the sake of their children. Adeline stayed as Slade's one true love while Lily was just the mother of his daughter while working at a brothel. Rose with her brothers had learned to get along.

Joseph was opened to her while Grant was angered by her existence because she represented a broken part of his family he held so valuable.

"Must they be there?" Grant asked indignantly.

"Yes they will be there. She's your sister." Adeline responded firmly.

"Of a whore." He muttered.

"Grant!"

"It's a great day to be joyous!" Joseph intercepted their fume. "Let's just all be happy for Grant." He gave a sincere smile to his older brother who rolled his eyes. The younger brother frowned by the response while all of them got into the car.

It wasn't a perfect life but it certainly felt real.


End file.
